What Was Your Best & Worst Detector?

[Michigan Badger]

What one hated, another loved.

I have never heard of a brand and model everyone hated or loved.

We all see things differently.

Lets keep this friendly and remember that others also have a right to express their thoughts.

Here are my best and worst detectors (I'll limit this to currently made brands). By "best" I mean the machine I was most pleased with for comfort and all-round hunting purposes.

1. Tesoro Deleon (Best)

Not the deepest and best for ignoring iron (that would be the Minelab Sovereign GT) but for comfort and general fun hunting it wins hands down.

2. Fisher F-70 (worst)

While this machine is very deep I found it so erratic and unstable for my type of hunting that I traded it off to a dealer. I even tried the larger F-75 coil on it and it was even worse. I also tried about every possible setting. I was afraid to sell it on ebay for fear of a negative feedback.

Okay, feel free to disagree.

Maybe you have a best and worst?

[SkiWhiz]

Best - Tesoro Toltec II

Fairly accurate analog meter, alot of fun to use.

Worst - Garrett Ace 250

Annoying belltone, slow recovery/response

Even worse than the 250 - Minelab Sovereign XS-2a Pro

Couldn't find a school bus buried 2 inches deep with it.

[digdug1968]

The worst - A treasure tracker xt8 or some such crazy named thing that I bought at a yard sale for $12 - my first detector. It is a way old model, without the arm brace, like a big box hooked to a shaft, analog needle / meter..... It had sens, ground balance, disc knobs, but I never found any difference in it's performance no matter where anything was set. It loved iron or steel, no way to disc it out. After a month or two of pulling a bucket full of nails etc. out of my yard with it, my stepbrother loaned me his extra compadre. A whole new world for me, digging coin after coin and no dang nails I like the silver umax best, not enough time on my new vaquero to pass judgement on it yet. The vaquero's learning curve is much steeper than the silver (turn it on and go!)

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by digdug1968

The worst - A treasure tracker xt8 or some such crazy named thing that I bought at a yard sale for $12 - my first detector. It is a way old model, without the arm brace, like a big box hooked to a shaft, analog needle / meter..... It had sens, ground balance, disc knobs, but I never found any difference in it's performance no matter where anything was set. It loved iron or steel, no way to disc it out. After a month or two of pulling a bucket full of nails etc. out of my yard with it, my stepbrother loaned me his extra compadre. A whole new world for me, digging coin after coin and no dang nails I like the silver umax best, not enough time on my new vaquero to pass judgement on it yet. The vaquero's learning curve is much steeper than the silver (turn it on and go!)

The treasure tracker sounds like some of those Chinese units I've tested. Like I wrote, the 1023 is the only good one I ever found. But it also has a worthless meter and is built like it came out of a gumball machine. Somehow the Chinese goofed and made the electronics right.

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by SkiWhiz

Best - Tesoro Toltec II

Fairly accurate analog meter, alot of fun to use.

Worst - Garrett Ace 250

Annoying belltone, slow recovery/response

Even worse than the 250 - Minelab Sovereign XS-2a Pro

Couldn't find a school bus buried 2 inches deep with it.

I never tried the Toltec. I came close to getting one once though. Somebody outbid me at a selling price of about $40. It was in rough shape.

You didn't like the Sov. XS?

Badger

[Jason in Enid]

Worst was the Radio Shack "Micronta" POS.

Best is my current E-Trac. Best coin machine ever!
I would also give a second "best" to my SunRay X1 probe. It has more depth than that Micronta!!

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by Jason in Enid

Worst was the Radio Shack "Micronta" POS.

Best is my current E-Trac. Best coin machine ever!
I would also give a second "best" to my SunRay X1 probe. It has more depth than that Micronta!!

Personally I've never been a fan of anything from Radio Shack.

But the shallowest detector I ever owned was a 1980's "lunch box" Fisher. It was one of their economy models that retailed in 1984 for about $150 as I recall. It was all-metal only and could get 1 or 2 inches deep on a manhole cover. I bought two for the kids and basically threw them in the trash.

But the Fisher 1260-X was one of the best machines I ever used. In fact it was this model that introduced the rod design most use today.

I haven't purchased the E-trac yet. The SE is as high as I've gotten.

[Silversmith45]

I can't say that I ever had a detector that I didn't like. Sure, some were heavy and I never found much with others, but they were all different and a challenge. I've had some that are no longer made. I had some of my most fun with some cheap ones. Some of the newer ones I spend to much time trying to figure out all of the bells and whistles. Of all that I've owned, and that's quite a few over the years, my all time favorite I would say is my Tek 9000. I've been using it for almost thirty years and have made my best finds with it, and no, they weren't still using Barber coins when I started. The Tek had the first audio ID. It is a varible pitch, different for each metal. I don't even have to look at the meter to tell when a find is worth digging. It was ahead of its time then, and still holds its own with a lot of the newer detectors. Maybe it won't go as deep, but as you have all found out, not everything good is eight to ten inches underground. I found a Barber dime at almost a foot deep with it once, my deepest coin, but I think that the conditions were perfect that day. I don't expect to find another one that deep with it.

[ohiochris]

Worst- Bounty hunter pioneer 101 , not even worth elaborating.


Best- I gotta say I loved the Tesoro bandido umax and my garrett ace 250 equal and they both count as my best detectors so far.

Deepest searching- Whites classic 3 SL

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by Silversmith45

I can't say that I ever had a detector that I didn't like. Sure, some were heavy and I never found much with others, but they were all different and a challenge. I've had some that are no longer made. I had some of my most fun with some cheap ones. Some of the newer ones I spend to much time trying to figure out all of the bells and whistles. Of all that I've owned, and that's quite a few over the years, my all time favorite I would say is my Tek 9000. I've been using it for almost thirty years and have made my best finds with it, and no, they weren't still using Barber coins when I started. The Tek had the first audio ID. It is a varible pitch, different for each metal. I don't even have to look at the meter to tell when a find is worth digging. It was ahead of its time then, and still holds its own with a lot of the newer detectors. Maybe it won't go as deep, but as you have all found out, not everything good is eight to ten inches underground. I found a Barber dime at almost a foot deep with it once, my deepest coin, but I think that the conditions were perfect that day. I don't expect to find another one that deep with it.

I owned the Tek 8500 and it was as you say. Not deep in discrimination mode but in all-metal it was way ahead of it's time.

[PhilB]

I have too many favorites. No detector works best for all situations, at least none I've used. The MXT is my favorite all around detector as it does a pretty fair job at all types of detecting provided you have multiple coils. My least favorite was the Fisher CoinStrike. One of my criteria for a keeper is the ability to get nickels and in that the CoinStrike failed miserably. I dug more trash with the CoinStrike hunting nickels than I did a Tesoro Compadre.lol It would find any other coin ok but not nickels. For hunting old coins in yards and parks my favorite would have to be the Explorer/E-Trac. Clad hunting the MXT and Fisher F70. Field hunting the Fisher F70. I'm hoping the Minelab Advantage will do even better for me at the old home sites in fields. Sorry I couldn't narrow it down to just two, I had a hard time the way it was.

[Silversmith45]

Originally Posted by Michigan Badger

I owned the Tek 8500 and it was as you say. Not deep in discrimination mode but in all-metal it was way ahead of it's time.

I own an 8500 besides my 9000. It finally died on me and I need to send it in and have it fixed. I could tell a silver dime from a clad dime with it. I met George Payne (founder of Teknetics) at a hunt in Oklahoma and he took my 9000 back to the factory with him and converted it to a hip mount. My 8500 already was a hip mount.

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by PhilB

I have too many favorites. No detector works best for all situations, at least none I've used. The MXT is my favorite all around detector as it does a pretty fair job at all types of detecting provided you have multiple coils. My least favorite was the Fisher CoinStrike. One of my criteria for a keeper is the ability to get nickels and in that the CoinStrike failed miserably. I dug more trash with the CoinStrike hunting nickels than I did a Tesoro Compadre.lol It would find any other coin ok but not nickels. For hunting old coins in yards and parks my favorite would have to be the Explorer/E-Trac. Clad hunting the MXT and Fisher F70. Field hunting the Fisher F70. I'm hoping the Minelab Advantage will do even better for me at the old home sites in fields. Sorry I couldn't narrow it down to just two, I had a hard time the way it was.

I also had the CoinStrike and like you was not impressed with it. The thing I disliked the most was the coil heavy poor balance. I'm tall so I had to put the rod way out there. The whole machine just seemed bulky and uncomfortable.

One of the top Civil War site persons on the Nautilus former really uses the MXT with that big DD coil. They just pose for pictures with the Nautilus. lol

I really didn't care for the F-70 but maybe mine was defective. It did pretty good in open fields but in trash filled yards forget it.

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by Silversmith45

I own an 8500 besides my 9000. It finally died on me and I need to send it in and have it fixed. I could tell a silver dime from a clad dime with it. I met George Payne (founder of Teknetics) at a hunt in Oklahoma and he took my 9000 back to the factory with him and converted it to a hip mount. My 8500 already was a hip mount.

You've brought back good memories. I had my 8500 back in the 1980's.

I just used mine stock but I never cared for the handle. I sold the 8500 and bought the 1260-X with Fisher's new "advanced rod design" and loved it. The Fisher 1260-X was one of Fisher's best machines. There were no tones and no meter but wow what a coin getter!

[ProPointer]

I've only had two detectors but here I go.

(Worst) Bounty Hunter Fun finder
(Best) Garrett Ace

[Silversmith45]

Originally Posted by Michigan Badger

You've brought back good memories. I had my 8500 back in the 1980's.

I just used mine stock but I never cared for the handle. I sold the 8500 and bought the 1260-X with Fisher's new "advanced rod design" and loved it. The Fisher 1260-X was one of Fisher's best machines. There were no tones and no meter but wow what a coin getter!

I also had a Fisher 1260. It was a great machine but hard to pinpoint. I later got a 1265 with a pinpoint built in. A big improvement, I thought.

[Michigan Badger]

Originally Posted by Silversmith45

I also had a Fisher 1260. It was a great machine but hard to pinpoint. I later got a 1265 with a pinpoint built in. A big improvement, I thought.

Yes, you're right.

I think the 1265 was a little deeper and constructed better too.

[sharpshooter]

Worst: Micronta from Radio Shack (from back in the 80's)

Best: Minelab E-Trac

Honorable Mention: Tesoro Vaquero

[Blueonceagain]

Originally Posted by SkiWhiz

Best - Tesoro Toltec II

Fairly accurate analog meter, alot of fun to use.

Worst - Garrett Ace 250

Annoying belltone, slow recovery/response

Even worse than the 250 - Minelab Sovereign XS-2a Pro

Couldn't find a school bus buried 2 inches deep with it.

Come on Steve,Im not taking bait.


http://metaldetectorreviews.net/dete...gnxs2apro.html

[Florida Tabdigger]

Steve loves tossing bait in the water...LOL

My worst detector would be a Jetco Mustang I got for Christmas in the mid 70s, still have it and it still works.
My best I'd have to say is my new M6.
Now my favorite was the Landstar due to all the finds I made with it.